Safety seal for sliding doors



= Aug. 19, 1969 AXE A SAFETY SEAL FOR SLIDING DOORS Filed Oct. 12, 1967 INVENTOE.

DANIEL E. AXE

United States Patent US. Cl. 49-483 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A pair of extruded rubber door edges for center-closing sliding doors which comprise a male member for one door and a female member for the other. The members are hollow with large longitudinally extending chambers for safety reasons. The male member has a blunt V-shaped nose received in a narrower V-shaped notch in the female member formed by hollow portions on either side thereof. The walls of the hollow portions contacting the nose are thinner than the other walls of the female member and those of the male member so as to collapse for forming a seal with the nose.

Background of the invention This invention relates to a sealing arrangement for sliding doors of the type in which a pair of doors slide together in closing and more particularly to a pair of cooperating edge members, one for each door.

Sliding doors for public transport vehicles usually are operated by remote control and are provided with suitable stops to limit the extent of opening and closing. To eliminate the danger of passengers having a finger or other portion injured by being caught between the closing doors, the closing edge of at least one door is usually provided with an end member or bumper of resilient material, usually a hollow rubber member, which allows the trapped portion to be withdrawn without injury.'Such edge members heretofore have been unsatisfactory in that the seal between the door edge member and the other door or other door edge member does not prevent objectionable drafts through the closure.

Summary of the invention The present invention contemplates a door edge member for each door constituting a cooperating pair. Each member is adapted to be formed of rubber or similar material extruded in elongated form adapted to be secured to the edge of the door, and having an interior longitudinal hollow portion or portions making the member soft and deformable so as not to injure a portion of a passenger caught between the doors. The male member of the pair has a protruding portion therealong and the female member has a cooperating recess, the walls of the recess being non-conforming to the male protrusion but easily bent to conform so as to form an adequate seal.

The principal object is to provide male and female edge members which are soft and resiliently deformable throughout but which effectively seal the closure when the doors are closed.

Another important object is .to provide cooperating edge members having cooperating flexible surfaces which are normally in close sealed engagement when the doors are closed without distorting the normal exterior conformation of the members.

Other objects will become apparent from the following description in conjunction with the appended drawings, in which:

3,46 1,61 1 Patented Aug. 19, 1969 Brief description of the drawings FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary perspective interior View of a pair of vehicle sliding doors having an attached pair of edge members according to the invention;

FIGURES 2 and 3 are enlarged fragmentary elevational views, respectively, of the female and male edge members;

FIGURES 4 and 5 are enlarged sectional views of the female and male edge members, respectively, on the line 6-6 of FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 6 is a similar greatly enlarged sectional view of the male and female members when engaged, the normal configuration of the female member being indicated 1I1 broken lines.

Description of the preferred embodiment In the drawing the doors D, D, shown in FIGURE 1 have attached to their respective closing edges the edge members 10 and 11. The edge members are made of extruded rubber or similar material and each has a respective fiat side 12 or 13 which is adapted to be secured in any convenient manner to the closing edge of its door.

The male member 11 is hollow, having a longitudinally extending central chamber 14, and is pentagonal in cross section. Chamber 14 is bounded by the flat side 13, opposed door-face sides 15 and 16, and the two shorter sides 17 and 18 which form a projecting V-shaped nose 19 opposite the flat side 13. Sides 15 and 16 may be thickened as shown at 20.

The female member 10 is also hollow having three elongated chambers therein. The base chamber 21 is bounded by the flat side 12, two opposed door-face sides 22 and 23 projecting at degrees from the ends of the flat side, and a bridging side 24 extending across from side 22 to side 23.

The door face sides 22 and 23 are extended at 25 and 26 forming one side each of the other two opposed longitudinally extending chambers 27 and 28. Chambers 27 and 28 are bounded on the other sides by the short sides 29 and 30 which extend toward each other from the ends of the respective face side extensions 25 and 26, and by the sides 31 and 32 which connect the inner ends of sides 29 and 30 respectively to the bridging side 24 of chamber 21 while tapering inward to their spaced junctions with side 24. Sides 29 and 30 extend substantially laterally or transversely of the member 10 but are slanted a little inwardly as shown for reasons which will appear, and sides 31 and 32 form therebetween a V-shaped recess or notch 33 which is narrower and less blunt than the nose 19 of member 13.

The sides 29, 30, 31 and 32 of chambers 27 and 28 are substantially thinner and hence considerably more flexible than the sides 15, 16, 17 and 18 of member 11 and the sides 22, 23, 24, 25 and 26 of the member 10.

When the doors close the nose 19 of male member 13 engages the notch 33 in the female member 10, forcing the sides 29 and 30 of chambers 27 and] 28 to bend along sides 17 and 18, as shown in FIGURE 6, and buckling sides 31 and 32, as shown, so that sealing seats 35 and 36, respectively, are formed against the sides 17 and 18 on either side of nose 19. The inwardly slanting sides 29 and 30 provide for their initial flexing at their junction with the thicker sides 25 and 26. Furthermore the junction between the sides 29 and 30 with their adjacent thin sides 31 and 32 are at an angle greater than 90 degrees therewith so that the junctions are flattened along the seats 35 and 36 to provide a continuous seal.

As indicated by the letter T in FIGURE 6, the doors travel a distance indicated by the arrows while forming this seal and leave a distance indicated by the arrows at O for overtravel after the doors contact their stop. During overtravel the sides 25 and 26 may be bent outwardly and, after nose 19 contacts the bridging side 24, stiffer resistance will be met as side 24 is flexed.

It will be apparent that, if a passengers arm or leg is caught between doors, injury will be prevented by the cushioning effect of the chambered members and 11. If a smaller portion such as a finger or clothing is caught so that the doors can fully close, the resiliency of members 12 and 13 allow the caught portion to be easily withdrawn. Neither door edge has a rigid portion which can injure a passenger and yet two sealing areas are provided, one on each side of the nose 19, to prevent drafts or Weather from entering the interior of the vehicle through the closure.

Due to the flexibility of the comparatively thin resilient walls at 29, 30, 31 and 32, little pressure is required to form the seal so that the door can fully close and during the normal travel over the distance T there is no apparent distortion of the exterior surfaces of the edge members.

Due to the inward slant of the sides 29 and 30 of the female member the closure between members 10 and 11 always appears as a straight line and there can be no unsightly gap of light showing at the closure, whether or not there are imperfections in the edge of either door D or D. The door seal is formed whether the doors are correctly hung or are slightly out of plumb, the seal adapting itself to the out of plumb arrangement. Furthermore, any variations in the transverse length of seats 35 and 36 along the door edges are not apparent because they are concealed. More important, since the V-shaped nose 19 of member 11 enters the V-shaped notch 33 in member 10, the seal seats 35 and 36 being on either side of nose 19, a baffle or tortuous passage is provided for drafts in addition to the double seal.

As will be apparent to those familiar with the art, the invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The embodiment disclosed therefore is to be considered in all respects as illustrative, rather than restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A seal arrangement for a pair of center-closing sliding doors comprising: a pair of hollow elongated male and female door edge members of resilient material, each member having a flat attachment side adapted to be secured to the closing edge of a respective door; the male member having a hollow pentagonal cross-sectional configuration formed by thin walls including the attachment side wall, two converging side walls forming a blunt V-shaped projection opposite the attachment side wall, and two opposed walls parallel to the door surfaces connecting the converging side walls to the ends of the attachment side wall; the female member having at least one transverse wall parallel to the flat side, two thin opposed walls parallel to the door surfaces extending from the ends of the flat side, and two thinner and more flexible normally bowed walls extending from ends of the opposed walls to the center of the transverse wall and forming with the opposed walls and the transverse wall a pair of opposed, spaced, hollow projecting portions opposite its flat side forming therebetween a V-shaped notch adapted to receive the V-shaped projection of the male member, the V-shaped projection being blunter and wider than the notch, the bowed walls of the female notch being longer than the normal distance from the ends of the female opposed walls to the center of the transverse wall and the bows therein forming the outer end of the notch, whereby a resilient seat is formed by the bowed walls for the V-shaped projection for sealing the closure when the male member meets the normal bow of the female member and straightens the bowed walls in contact with the converging side members of the male member.

2. A seal arrangement for a pair of silding centerclosing doors comprising: a pair of elongated male and female door edge members of rubber-like material each having a flat side adapted to be secured to the closing edge of a respective door; the male member having a hollow pentagonal cross-sectional configuration with side walls bounding its large generally pentagonal hollow, two sides forming a V-shaped projection oposite its fiat side; the female member having a longitudinally extending rectangular hollow chamber adjacent its flat side formed by an opposed pair of door-face sides parallel to the direction of slide of the doors, a bridging side opposite and spaced from the flat side, and the fiat side; the female door face sides being extended straight from the ends of the flat side, the extensions forming with the bridging side two sides each of a pair of opposed, hollow, flexing, longitudinally extending chambers, the other two sides of the flexing chambers being formed by comparatively thin more flexible side walls, the side walls opposite the bridging side extending substantially transversely and the side walls opposite the door face sides extending divergent from the bridging member to their connection with the walls opposite the bridging member to form a narrower, V-shaped, easily deformed, seat for the V- shaped projection of the male member, the more flexible walls conforming to the sides of the V-shaped projection of the male member when the doors are closed.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,683,793 9/1928 Nyman 49-483 X 2,209,446 7/ 1940 Dennis 49483 2,797,958 7/1957 Podolan 49483 X 3,095,619 7/1963 Peterson 49-483 X FOREIGN PATENTS 1,342,662 9/ 1963 France.

DAVID J. WILLIAMOWSKY, Primary Examiner PHILIP C. KANNAN, Assistant Examiner 

